Whether you are just enrolling in your first education course in college or stepping into the classroom as a teacher for the first time by yourself, looking for sample lesson plan formats is a smart way to get started.

Sample Lesson Plan Format

Lesson plans are generally made up of a few different key parts. They can vary, which we will discuss later; however, here is a fairly standard sample of a lesson plan.

Title

At the top of the page, you should list the grade level and class name as well as the subject that you are teaching.

Example:

12th Grade Writing Course

Subject: Developing a Thesis

Materials

Creating a list of materials helps to keep you organized. However, when you taking a class yourself or when you have to present your lesson plans to a supervisor, this section also allows the supervisor or teacher to know that you are organized and you are preparing for your lessons beforehand.

Example:

plastic bags, strips of paper with literary evidence written on them, segment of a court case

Student Objectives

After you write down the course basics, you need to include what you hope your students will learn. They must indicate action on the part of the student. Objectives are generally written as bullet points.

Example:

Students will watch a segment of a court case.

Students will examine pieces of evidence to see how they connect.

Students will create a thesis from the evidence.

Procedure

The teacher now writes down exactly what he or she will do, and how the students will engage in the activity. Procedures are written in numerical order.

The teacher will show a court case clip to the class. He/she will then explain to the students how the lawyer uses evidence to create a central argument.

A discussion ensues in which the following questions are asked:

How is the lawyer's process similar to the writing process?

How do we use evidence to build a thesis, as opposed to constructing a thesis and then finding evidence?

Do you tend to write the introduction or body of the essay first?

3. Teacher distributes plastic bags marked as "Evidence A," "Evidence B," and "Evidence C" to small groups of students. The teacher asks students to work together to come up with a thesis based off of that evidence.

4. The small groups present their evidence, and then connect it to their thesis.

5. Wrap Up: The teacher asks the students the following questions:

How has this activity helped you?

What has this taught you about the way in which you construct an essay?

Other Lesson Plans

So many different ways in which you could approach a lesson plan exist, leading to many option for lesson plan formats. The Internet is a good source for lesson plans, one of which might suit your specific needs. Here are few good resources for lesson plan formats:

In addition to showing you how to construct a lesson plan, these different sources also give you ideas for creative activities in the classroom. If none of these plans suit you, consider checking with an adviser or supervisor for additional sample lesson plan formats and ideas.